Move Over Green Envelopes, WGA Rolls Out Direct Deposits For Residuals
There’s a bar in Studio City where writers and actors can take any residuals check under $1 and exchange it for a drink.
Residuals – the bar, that is – may now start seeing fewer checks from writers after it emerged that the WGA West is introducing direct deposits for the first time.
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The writers guild, which scored an increase in residuals, particularly for streaming, during last year’s strike, is rolling out the new direct deposits plan in phases. Some writers began receiving emails last week that will allow them to register to its new payment hub, while others will receive these emails over the coming weeks and it will eventually be available to all WGA West members.
Last month, it was revealed in the WGAW’s annual financial report that while employment and earnings was down last year, as a result of the strike, the guild collected more residuals.
The direct deposit move has been positively received by writers already, although a few have been joking about the loss of those green envelopes.
David H. Steinberg, who created Netflix’s No Good Nick, revealed the move on social media and received many replies from fellow writers.
Nina Weinman Swift, who has written Hallmark movies including A Nashville Legacy and Catch Me If You Claus, said that she had been receiving direct deposits as part of the pilot program. “While I do miss the green envelopes, it’s been really nice,” she wrote on X.
Daniel Pipski, who wrote the George Clooney and Julia Roberts movie Ticket to Paradise and is an exec producer on HBO’s The Penguin series, added that it was “awesome” but he’ll also “miss the green envelopes”.
Others joked about the loss of the green envelopes. Jessica McCoy wrote on X, “But what if you want your 72 cent check so you can get a drink at Residuals?”
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